American Raises Citi Executive Card Fee To $695 — New Credits, More Loyalty Points, And Pricier Lounges

The Citi / AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard annual fee is going up by $100 – from $595 to $695 – effective August 23. Along with that are several new card benefits. The cost of an American Airlines Admiral’s Club standalone membership without the card is going up by far more, framing the card as the much more attactive way to gain access.

American is introducing a new, restricted tier of Admirals Club membership priced at $750 that does not offer guest access, and doesn’t include access to partner lounges like Alaska Airlines or Qantas. The full membership is going up fron $700 – $800 to $1,200 – $1,400 depending on status.

I’ll cover full details of these changes to Admirals Club pricing in a separate post. But the clear message is that full membership with guests at ‘only’ $695 through the card is a relative bargain, so get the card. And there are new benefits that I think far more than make up for the increased fee. In fact, for me the card is a much better value than it has been at the lower price.

And roughly speaking, as American Airlines reinvests in its clubs – opening more clubs, refreshing clubs in a nicer style, and adding better food offerings – they’re raising the price of both the card and lounges to closer to what Delta and United charge. Let’s review all the changes.

New Benefits Of The Citi AAdvantage Executive Card (And One Taken Away)

At some level the card was already too cheap for what it was, relative to market. They offer authorized user cards for less, too! And the lounges themselves are getting better, though this is a slow process.

Fortunately, though, the $100 annual fee increase seems more than made up for in new benefits.

• Up to $500 statement credits for American Airlines Vacation purchases $250 semi-annually. And since this is a statement credit, any purchase through American Airlines Vacations triggers it. The strategy pushes customers to stay inside American’s ecosystem for booking broader travel, which earns Americian commissions, but there’s actually real value in this credit which I’ll walk through shortly in an upcoming post.

• Up to $100 statement credits for inflight and Admirals Club purchases per calendar year. This one may be more niche. If you’re already seated in Main Cabin Extra (extra legroom), drinks are free. Executive Platinums get a free snack. But you can pick up additional snacks, for instance if you’re traveling with family, which is nice. Or you can pay for premium beverages.

  I wouldn’t value this benefit at $100 but I’ll use it. Of course, the old Barclays Aviator Silver card gave $25 per day in inflight spending credit the problem was finding flights that even offered food for sale at the time, fortunately American is getting better at this.

  

• Increased Lyft credits from $10 per month up to $15 per month, but you don’t earn this credit until you’ve taken 3 rides in the calendar month. I will keep putting my Lyft rides on a Chase card and earn 5 points per dollar, but if you’re actually doing 3 rides and spending less than $200 the Lyft credit on this card is probably better (just swap payment methods after your third ride). Of course if you don’t use Lyft 3 times you get nothing.

  The Lyft credit is valid for 30 days from you earn it. The three qualifying rides have to occur in the same calendar month.

• Increased points-earning with AAdvantage Hotels and Cars 12x instead of 10x, which is actually great return. Some members even report getting credit on stays they didn’t show up for. It’s nice Loyalty Points return here.

• More credit towards status. Cardmembers currently earn 10,000 Loyalty Points when they reach 50,000 and 90,000 Loyalty Points for the member year. They’re adding 165,000 and 240,000 levels for this as well, so you’ll be able to earn up to 40,000 bonus Loyalty Points instead of just 20,000. For me, that’s actually worth the annual fee increase alone.

  Crucially, these loyalty points are earned whether you ever spend money on the card or not. They’re earned when you cross these loyalty point thresholds in your account, whether those loyalty points are generated from flights, credit card, online shopping, etc.

• Omni Hotels Status. Primary cardmembers can receive Omni Hotels Select Guest Champion Status (mid-tier). It earns faster (10 Omni Credits per room night); is entitled to a space available one room type upgrade; plus 1 p.m. early check-in and 3 p.m. late check-out if available. It also comes with free bottled water and daily beverage delivered each morning and four shoe shines or pressings.

  Omni currently operates over 50 hotels across 38 cities in the U.S. and Canada.

  Asheville, NC	Atlanta, GA	Austin, TX
  Bedford, PA	Boston, MA	Bretton Woods, NH
  Broomfield, CO	Carlsbad, CA	Charlotte, NC
  Charlottesville, VA	Chicago, IL	Corpus Christi, TX
  Cumberland, GA	Dallas, TX	Eagan, MN
  Fernandina Beach, FL	Fort Lauderdale, FL	Fort Worth, TX
  Frisco, TX	Hilton Head, SC	Hot Springs, VA
  Houston, TX	Indianapolis, IN	Las Colinas, TX
  Los Angeles, CA	Louisville, KY	Montreal, QC
  Nashville, TN	New Haven, CT	New Orleans, LA
  New York, NY	Oklahoma City, OK	Orlando, FL
  Palm Springs, CA	Pittsburgh, PA	Providence, RI
  Richmond, VA	San Antonio, TX	San Diego, CA
  San Francisco, CA	Scottsdale, AZ	Tempe, AZ
  Toronto, ON	Tucson, AZ	Washington, DC

  
  Credit: Omni Hotels

• Earn an Annual Free Omni Night: Once per calendar year, after enrolling in the Champion Status benefit, primary cardmembers can earn a free night after completing a qualifying stay of two or more nights booked directly at omnihotels.com. The play here is to redeem at the expensive properties. If you’re going to stay at peak times in New York this appears to offer good value.

  
  Credit: Omni Hotels

• Avis President’s Club Status: enroll through Aug. 31, 2028 for upgrades, this is duplicative with the 100,000 Loyalty Point benefit at AAdvantage which many cardmembers are earning anyway.

  

One benefit is actually going away on the card. Currently, cardmembers receive up to $10 in statement credits per monthly billing statement on Grubhub purchases. I use this in conjunction with the $10 monthly Bilt Cash redemption with Grubhub, so I get $20 off an order (and Grubhub’s subscription program is free with Amazon Prime).

This benefit will not be available to new cardmembers opening an account on or after August 23, 2026. Existing cardmembers (who opened their account before August 23, 2026) continue to receive the Grubhub benefit through August 31, 2027.

What’s Not Changing About The Card

The Citi Executive card earns 4x on American Airlines purchases (5x after spending $150,000 in purchases on the card in a calendar year) and 1 mile per dollar spent on other purchases (besides AAdvantage Hotels and Cars, which is increasing to 12x).

It comes with Admirals Club membership, and Admirals Club access for authorized users (they need to show their card).

American Airlines benefits include first checked bag free (domestic itineraries only; primary cardmember and up to eight companions traveling on the same reservation, not doing two bags like Delta is a competitive miss); priority check-in and priority TSA lanes where available; priority boarding on American (primary cardmember and up to eight companions on the same reservation).

The card offers up to $120 back on Avis and Budget prepaid rentals. When they restricted this benefit to prepaid rentals booked directly through avis.com or budget.com I marked the value of this down to zero – I don’t do prepaid rentals.

The card has trip delay; trip cancellation and interruption; car rental coverage and lost baggage protection, and no foreign transaction fees. There’s also $120 for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck every 4 years.

The product is being issued now as a Matercard World Legend, and there are occasional Mastercard benefits that go along with that like new airport lounges serving sit down meals in Sao Paulo, Hong Kong, and soon Mexico City.

When Do New, Higher Card Fees Go Into Effect?

The new $695 annual fee for the Citi AAdvantage Executive Card is in line with Chase’s United Club Card and $50 higher than the Delta Reserve Amex (which only provides 15 lounge visits per year).

The new higher annual fee applies to new cardmembers starting August 23, 2026. The annual fee for authorized users stays $175 for up to 3 authorized users and $175 for each authorized user thereafter.

Existing cardmembers who have had the card for over 12 months will receive a notification this month or next about the new annual fee billed at the cardmember’s card anniversary date. Cardmembers who have had the card for less than 12 months will receive notification in August 2027, and the new annual fee will be billed at the cardmember’s following anniversary date.

There’s still an opportunity to get the card before August 23 at current pricing, and the card’s new benefits go live for both new and existing cardmembers on August 23, 2026.

And since the card is about lounge access and status-earning, and American doesn’t cap status-earning from spend and earns status credit at a better rate than Delta’s card does, it seems like a relative value still compared to major competitors.

The Best Ways To Access American’s Lounges

The Citi / AAdvantage Executive Mastercard comes with Admirals Club membership. The Citi AAdvantage Globe and Citi Strate Elite come with a handful of visit passes (which need to be used when the lounge you want to enter is accepting day passes). The Executive card is the best way for most heavy American Airlines flyres to gain lounge access. It comes with unlimited visits and up to two guests or immediate family members.

And, honestly, after a number of years following the US Airways merger of closing lounges and where new and renovated lounges were middling at best, they’ve really started to build the new lounge pipeline and the lounges they’re opening are really quite nice.

The new lounge aesthetic debuted at Washington National airport on the E concourse four years ago, and was followed by Denver, Newark and Philadelphia A-West. Washington National D is being renovated and new lounges are coming at Chicago O’Hare L; Charlotte; Dallas Fort Worth C (and a Provisions in F); New York JFK (Provisions); Miami (D30); Austin and Nashville and they promise “more to come.”

The food has gotten better, too. I think it still lags what Delta offers, though Delta’s quality has seemed to fall a bit, but it’s a real improvement over where things were and it’s easy to forget how mediocre U.S. airline lounges were 15 years ago (packaged Tillamook cheese and crackers were the United Red Carpet Club staple for years, and American lounges used to charge Amex Platinum cardholders for wifi). The new servingware American uses in its lounges is a real improvement too, making the food offerings seem more appealing.

Of course, a major reason for lounge access is live agent help during irregular operations. The agents in my home club in Austin are just phenomenal. They recognize regulars by name walking in the door, and they work magic with itineraries with an unmatched conscientiousness – I’ve landed off of delayed flight at a hub only to find that itinerary was improved while I was in the air.

Now, there are other ways to gain access besides a paid membership, lounge pass, or card. A membership can be claimed as a Loyalty Choice Reward. And I’ve been using status matched Royal Jordanian status for access to American’s business class Flagship lounges even when flying domestically. Paid Alaska Airlines ‘Plus’ memberships offer access. But for most heavy U.S. flyers, the card is the logical path.

How I Think About The Value Proposition Of The Executive Card

I carry the card for American Airlines lounge membership, and for the bonus loyalty points towards status. I use the monthly GrubHub benefit (that is going away), but that’s a merchant-funded offer where they’ve been selling my attention to GrubHub rather than a real benefit as such.

This has been a card to have for the benefits not really one to spend money on except to the extent that you need card spending to earn AAdvantage status.

It bonuses airfare spend but is only my third-most rewarding card even for buying American Airlines tickets. It’s a great play for AAdvantage Hotels. But at one mile per dollar on most spend, it’s under-powered. I don’t need to put my regular spend on the card to earn Executive Platinum status.

If American would publish a status-earning threshold for ConciergeKey, though, that would be another story. I’d lean into Loyalty Points-earning with spend on the card, even at just one mile per dollar. It’s just that I’d hate to go all-in with this card, earn a million loyalty points, and not receive ConciergeKey. I do miss that status, though, I really was so well-treated when I had it.

The Strategy Behind These Changes

American Airlines is trying to become more premium. They’re investing more in their product. They’re doing this for a reason and it’s not just a bet that customers will like a nicer experience and choose to fly them more.

The airline has a revenue deficit compared to peers like Delta and United. We should understand their moves as newly focusing on revenue and not just cost. They nerfed basic economy fares, taking away elite benefits and mileage-earning, in an effort to further distinguish those from standard fares and get customers to pay for the expensive ones. Raising prices and offering a better product as strategies together makes sense in this context.

Nine years ago I laid out that ““They’re never going to have the low cost structure that Spirit has. In order to make money they need to earn a revenue premium, and they can only do that with a product customers actually want to buy.”

Five years ago I wrote, “Why A Quality Airline Product Matters” and explained that “American needs to earn a revenue premium because they’re a high cost carrier.” American now realizes this!

Meanwhile, their new Citibank credit card deal ties the airline closer to their primary banking partner. This should now be thought of as more of a joint venture than American simply serving as a vendor to the credit card issuer, selling miles and perks. The lounges themselves as being jointly branded with Citi. And the products are being refreshed to, they hope, attract more cardmembers and get those cardmembers using them more. We should see more changes.

Citi just came out with the mid-tier Globe card, but we haven’t seen refreshes of the mass consumer card or the business card. Here are changes they surveyed earlier this year to the business card.